In the end, Kōbe Hikaru failed.
Three consecutive days of attempts, and he still couldn't sense that so-called 'clear qi.'
It wasn't a matter of talent.
Kikyō had said it herself — his soul was intact, his will resilient, his foundation stronger than most human cultivators.
The problem was the body.
A Ghost Warrior's shell instinctively rejected spiritual power. Every time he reached out to sense those faint specks of light drifting through heaven and earth, the demon-qi inside him would stir on reflex — a convulsive, animal resistance.
Like throwing water into a pot of boiling oil.
The clear qi and murky qi slammed into each other and shredded what little perception he'd managed to scrape together into nothing.
"No luck today either?"
Kōbe Hikaru opened his eyes and looked at Kikyō.
The shrine maiden withdrew the hand she had been pressing against his back and shook her head.
"Your demon-qi is too dense," she said. "Unless you find a way to suppress it, sensing clear qi will remain nearly impossible."
"Is there a way?"
"There is."
Kikyō paused. "Kill you. The demon-qi disappears on its own."
"…"
Kōbe Hikaru was silent for two full seconds.
"You're joking, right?"
Kikyō didn't answer. She simply turned and walked back toward the main hall.
But Kōbe Hikaru could have sworn — just for an instant — that the corner of her mouth twitched upward.
Fine.
If he couldn't learn it, he couldn't learn it. He'd never honestly expected to master spiritual power in a matter of days — for human mages, that was the work of years of bitter cultivation. What was a demon doing expecting to speed-run it?
That was wishful thinking.
But that said —
If spiritual power was off the table for now, he couldn't just sit around doing nothing.
The Shikon Jewel's Affection rating wasn't going to grind itself.
Kōbe Hikaru pushed himself up from the ground and dusted off his clothes.
He wasn't wearing the shattered armor anymore.
Too conspicuous. The villagers had grudgingly accepted his presence thanks to Kikyō, but every time they caught sight of that bloodstained suit of armor, they'd visibly recoil and take a wide detour around him.
Today, he wore a plain grey hemp robe — a gift from a kind old woman in the village. She'd said it had belonged to her late husband.
Kōbe Hikaru had tried to refuse. The old woman told him it was just gathering dust anyway — better to let someone who needed it wear it.
So he had accepted.
The robe was a size too big on him, but it was considerably more comfortable than the shattered armor — even if, technically speaking, that armor had been made from his own condensed demon-qi. And precisely because it was, putting it away had lifted a small but real weight off his shoulders. The trade-off was reduced defense, but within the walls of this village, standing beside Kikyō, that wasn't something he needed to worry about.
As for the crimson demon mask — it stayed in the cloth pouch at his hip.
Unworn.
The villagers had already seen his face. There was no point putting it back on now. And besides, the last couple of times he'd worn it around the village, Kaede had made a scene every single time, demanding he take it off and insisting that he looked better without it.
The aesthetic sensibilities of small children are surprisingly well-calibrated.
Kōbe Hikaru descended the stone steps and headed east toward the far end of the village.
There was a small grove of trees out that way — somewhere he'd been spending a lot of time lately.
Not for training. For —
"Morning. How are you feeling today?"
Kōbe Hikaru stood in front of an old locust tree and addressed the trunk.
Anyone who happened to witness this scene would probably have assumed he'd lost his mind.
A demon. Talking to a tree. By himself.
Kōbe Hikaru didn't care.
Because the system panel was perfectly clear on the matter.
[Old Locust Tree: Current Affection 3 (Budding)]
[It conveys a vague message: 'Your voice is gentle. I like listening to you talk.']
Yes.
He was grinding a tree's Affection rating.
The Shikon Jewel's Affection was climbing too slowly. Relying purely on 'purification' — slaying demons — had limited returns. But the system had been clear: conversation and companionship also raised Affection.
And any non-living object that could be seen and perceived was eligible for the Affection System.
So Kōbe Hikaru had decided to work both angles at once.
He would keep killing demons to slowly raise the Shikon Jewel's Naohi Affection — and in parallel, he'd start building bonds with the various non-living things around the village.
This old locust tree was one of his targets.
By all accounts, it had stood here for over two hundred years — the oldest living presence in the entire village. A tree that old might have already developed a faint spirit of its own.
If he could max out its Affection, who knew what special ability he might inherit?
Control over trees, maybe?
Or… photosynthesis?
He dismissed the latter immediately. Completely useless.
The former, on the other hand, could potentially be woven into a sixth Change of Physical Transformation — but the odds were honestly pretty low. Unless this happened to be some kind of 'Sacred Tree.'
That was a pattern Kōbe Hikaru had long since worked out: the more extraordinary the object, the stronger the talent it could offer. Ordinary things produced ordinary results — better than nothing, but not by much.
Which was exactly why, after everything, he was still sitting at five Changes. Identifying what was actually worth pursuing wasn't easy.
"Nice weather today," Kōbe Hikaru continued, his tone perfectly conversational. "The sun's warm."
"Your leaves are looking full and thick. You seem to be doing well."
"There was a light rain last night. You must have had your fill."
[Old Locust Tree: Affection +1]
[Current Affection: 4]
Up it went.
Kōbe Hikaru gave a satisfied nod and moved on to his next target.
——
On the stone steps of the shrine.
Kikyō stood beneath the torii gate, watching the grey-robed figure in the distance.
She watched Kōbe Hikaru walk up to the old locust tree and speak to the trunk at some length.
Then he moved to a large boulder nearby and spoke to that.
Then a well.
An abandoned thatched hut.
A hoe someone had left on the side of a path.
He stopped at each one. Said a few words with apparent sincerity.
Sometimes it was a greeting. Sometimes small talk. Sometimes, she could have sworn, it was… gratitude.
"You've been standing here all these years. That must have been hard on you."
She heard him say that to the boulder.
"…"
Kikyō didn't know what expression she was supposed to be wearing.
Was this demon missing a few pieces upstairs? Talking to a rock — could a rock even understand him?
And yet she couldn't bring herself to dismiss it entirely — because when Kōbe Hikaru did all of this, his expression was completely calm.
Calm. Even… gentle.
Not the slightest trace of mockery or performance. Not a drop of self-consciousness.
As though he were genuinely communicating with those things.
As though those things could genuinely hear him.
Remarkable.
Was there really a demon in this world like this — one who didn't crave killing, didn't crave blood, who instead treated every last thing with this kind of quiet care?
This, too, was true: he was more human than most of the people alive in this era — people who bent double under the weight of survival every single day.
"Sister, what are you looking at?"
Kaede's voice came from behind her.
Kikyō pulled her gaze away and said nothing.
But Kaede had already followed the line of her sight.
"Oh! It's the pretty big brother!"
The little girl's eyes lit up. "What's he doing? Is he talking to a hoe?"
"…"
Kikyō still said nothing.
"That's so weird," Kaede said, tilting her head. "Is big brother… simple?"
"No."
Kikyō finally spoke. "He's just…"
She paused, as though searching for the right word.
In the end, she seemed to give up finding one. "He's just a little strange."
"Strange?"
"Mm."
Kikyō watched the distant figure nodding earnestly at the hoe, and the corner of her mouth moved — just slightly.
"A strange demon."
But…
Not unpleasant.
She added that last part in her heart, without saying it aloud.
Perhaps that was precisely why — why the Shikon Jewel's Naohi had chosen to extend its goodwill toward him.
The young shrine maiden in white kosode and red hakama turned her gaze away a moment later, and quietly tightened her fingers around the Shikon Jewel she carried at her side.
Naohi. Magatsuhi.
Three more days.
Three days until the full moon — the night when yin energy peaked and the darkness ran deep.
——
Evening.
Kōbe Hikaru returned to the guest room.
He checked the system panel. Today's haul was decent.
[Old Locust Tree: Affection 4]
[Large Boulder: Affection 2]
[Well: Affection 3]
[Abandoned Thatched Hut: Affection 1]
[Hoe: Affection 1]
[Shikon Jewel — Naohi: Current Affection 6 (Budding)]
Not bad.
Kōbe Hikaru was just thinking about lying down to rest when the system panel flashed a new notification.
[Shikon Jewel — Naohi conveys a message.]
['Three days from now, when the full moon hangs at its zenith, Magatsuhi will reach the height of its power.']
['When that moment comes, its malevolent force and demon-qi will surge, drawing every demon within several hundred li.']
['The chosen shrine maiden intends to perform the sealing alone.']
['She has not told anyone.']
Kōbe Hikaru stared at the notification, and his brow slowly furrowed.
Perform the sealing alone?
Every demon within several hundred li would converge on this spot — and she intended to face that by herself?
He rose from where he sat and walked to the window.
Through the gap in the wooden shutters, he could see the direction of the shrine.
The vermillion torii cast long shadows in the last light of the evening sun.
Beneath it, a figure in white and red stood before the main hall, her back to him.
Straight-backed. Unyielding.
Cool and still as moonlight, upright and resolute as a winter plum — yet blooming alone, in solitude, as though that was simply the nature of things.
Kōbe Hikaru watched her for a long moment. He said nothing.
He didn't go to Kikyō and ask what the Naohi's message meant. There was no way to explain how he knew — and beyond that —
If she didn't want to say, he wouldn't ask.
But three days from now —
He would still be here.
____
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